Encountering Rain at West Lake

August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival. Search: \(Complete Book Divine Station\) to read quality literature for free.

After the summer heat subsided, the belated autumn finally arrived in Hangzhou. When golden leaves fall in the wind, they always bring a sense of laziness. If we could turn back time a few months, when Ning Yi and Su Tan'er set off from Jiangning, what they had in mind was to enjoy such an atmosphere – or at least, one aspect of it. However, over these past few months, various events intertwined, ultimately pushing reality towards a result that no one had anticipated.

Ning Yi was enjoying this autumn, which, from a literary perspective, always had a hint of loneliness. But in any case, at least on the surface, he had to approach things with an attitude of enjoyment. Since complaining was useless, it was best to mask any feelings of complaint beneath a veneer of enjoyment.

Fang La had ascended the throne two days prior, and the celebratory atmosphere of the enthronement ceremony still lingered in the city. For Ning Yi, his current status meant he couldn't feel too much joy, nor did he need to feel too much sadness. The only impact was that the school had been closed for the past two days, so yesterday he took Xiao Chan out for a stroll.

Since returning to Hangzhou, this was the first time he had gone out for leisure and relaxation, signaling that the tension of the previous period could be temporarily put aside. Xiao Chan's mood was also noticeably lighter.

Hangzhou was just catching its breath after the war, but the flow of goods had largely resumed. Ning Yi and Xiao Chan visited several markets that had revived due to the new dynasty's celebrations. In addition to the various flowers and banners made for the festivities, everywhere you looked, there were bamboo and wood frames, and small groups of workers, creating an image of reconstruction in the war-torn city.

At this time, prices in Hangzhou were high, but Ning Yi naturally had A Chang and A Ming following him, so he bought some odds and ends for daily use, mostly at the public expense. The new residence lacked the feeling of home, but with Xiao Chan there, running around with various items these days, arranging them like a diligent little ant, it made people feel fond of her. She used to be a capable little housekeeper in the Su family, and now, she meticulously arranged the rooms, finally giving them a sense of intimacy.

Xiao Chan was still working at the clinic next door, learning some medical theory and pharmacology from the old Doctor Liu while working. The old doctor had a decent temperament, but he disliked Ning Yi, mainly because Ning Yi had talked about wound suturing theories some time ago, which the old doctor thought was arrogant. He would scold Ning Yi a few times, saying he was ignorant, but Xiao Chan was very well-behaved. These days, the old man probably treated her like a granddaughter. Ning Yi didn't know if Xiao Chan would become a little miracle doctor in the future.

Every afternoon or evening when they were together, Ning Yi liked to ask Xiao Chan about what she had learned at the clinic. Because if he didn't ask, Xiao Chan basically wouldn't say anything. The girl still adhered to her duty, thinking about cooking, washing dishes, boiling water, washing clothes, making tea, and even moving stools for Ning Yi. Sometimes, even when she babbled, it was about interesting things around her, not reviewing the lessons the old doctor taught her – that was ultimately secondary to her.

The school would be closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the clinic still had some things to do, so Xiao Chan went to help out in the morning. Ning Yi had nothing to do at home, and he wanted to write down some of his recent thoughts with paper and pen, but he found it boring. He wasn't a Confucian disciple, and he had no desire to establish himself through writing. But recently, after truly understanding some of the situations in Fang La's army through the Overlord Blade Camp, thoughts like "how would I rebel if it were me" occasionally arose. If he could write a set of rules based on this, it would be a relatively interesting thing to do.

The reason he found it boring to write was ultimately that he hadn't found the key breakthrough point.

After thinking about it for a while, someone knocked on the door outside. Ning Yi went out to take a look, and a Taoist priest holding a banner was talking to A Chang. It turned out that it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and he was selling talismans and Gods of Wealth. At this time, the most common people in Hangzhou were probably people from all walks of life. After the Taoist left, a monk came over shortly after, begging for alms and selling things. Occasionally, Jianghu people with weapons would walk through the streets.

A society has its own ecosystem. Ning Yi sat on the stone pier at the door, basking in the sun, thinking about the things he needed to do recently.

The most important thing, and the center of everything, was that he wanted to send Xiao Chan away, back to Su Tan'er's side. The ideal situation, of course, would be to go with her, but that seemed very difficult. Xiao Chan was here as his hostage, but it wasn't impossible to send her away. However, the matter had two stages: first, to send Xiao Chan out of the city, and then to have Xiao Chan safely travel hundreds of miles to Huzhou. The first stage was very feasible, with many methods and no major problems, but Ning Yi didn't have a reliable way to get Xiao Chan to Huzhou alone.

Everything else was an additional problem arising from the previous matter. If Xiao Chan failed to escape, how could he ensure her and his own survival? If Xiao Chan succeeded in escaping, how could he protect himself? The answer to this question lay in increasing his own value, or increasing the sincerity of his help to the other party. These were all casual notes for weekdays, with no fixed routine. The things he wanted to write were also part of this question.

It wasn't for the purpose of deceiving people, but he had truly thought about these things. Since he was going to live here for a while, he had to find something to do. Simply teaching some students would probably be boring. Now, what was in front of him was a living example of a peasant uprising. Although it wasn't easy to start writing at the moment, Ning Yi had a basic framework in his mind.

Ambition, desire, or what would be called subjective initiative in later generations, could, to a large extent, be the deciding factor in whether a person or a group of people could accomplish great things. This statement may not be universally applicable, but at least in the current uprising, it had become the biggest constraint. A group of peasants without a strong subjective initiative, most of the soldiers were just looting, and there would come a time when they felt they had "looted enough." They were not scholars who wanted to create peace for all generations, nor were they soldiers who could simply march forward following orders. When the proportion of peasants in this team was too large, there would come a time when they would slowly stop.

Looking at the entire history, the first point of the uprisings or peasant uprisings that really succeeded was that, to some extent, they were the general trend, that is, a group of scholars cried out that this world should perish. The second point was that the insurgents could train peasants into soldiers, that is, make them able to listen to orders instead of asking "what are we going to rob." The two had their own proportions, with the first point being the most important. Of course, there were exceptions, such as Zhu Di's army in the Ming Dynasty in later generations, but that was not a peasant uprising. In peasant uprisings, the importance of the first point was almost irreplaceable.

And in the entire course of history, seeing many peasant uprisings, due to famine, due to plague, due to riots, someone raised their arms, and tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people rose up, they rushed like locusts, and then sank into silence. But almost all the high-level insurgents had never really thought about how to mobilize the full power of each individual. And the only uprising in the entire historical course known to Ning Yi, in all the cases he knew, that truly used concepts such as subjective initiative or even ideals on peasants was a mere one.

That was the Communist Party's uprising in later generations.

Regardless of how that revolution was evaluated later, at least at the time, the power exerted by that group of peasants was the greatest, and it also created what was perhaps the most incorruptible revolutionary team in human history.

Ning Yi had also been an angry youth. At that time, he had looked for information about the Japanese Kamikaze suicide squads. It was when World War II was about to end that the Japanese shouted the slogan "One Hundred Million Gem Shattering" and prepared to keep the Americans out. At that time, Japanese pilots tied explosives to light bombers or fighters, or even only carried one-way fuel, directly ramming American planes or ships. Because of this desperate tactic, even some of the top American pilots were psychologically affected, and some had unstable moods when landing on their own mother ships, causing the planes to crash.

And in addition to these Kamikaze suicide squads, at that time on the coast of Japan, they installed steering wheels on torpedoes and trained sailors to drive them, preparing to ram American ships directly in this way. Of course, this tactic was prepared to prevent a large-scale American landing, but the United States did not land later, and these torpedoes were not used.

When he learned about these materials at that time, Ning Yi sincerely felt terrible. Of course, he also thought about how to replicate such a nation, or make certain references to it in business management. It wasn't until later that he saw the records of the Battle of Changjin Lake during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

At that time, the volunteer soldiers entering Korea were encountering a severe winter, and winter clothes were severely insufficient. At that time, in order to fight a sniper war against the US military, troops were sent to ambush on the positions in advance. In the winter of minus 40 degrees Celsius, in heavy snow and freezing conditions, entire companies of people froze to death on the positions, and even until they froze to death, these people maintained their shooting posture and never let go of their weapons. They just didn't wait for their enemies.

If the spirit of the Japanese came from "fanaticism," it was difficult to describe where the spirit of these volunteer soldiers came from. And throughout the War of Resistance Against Japan and the domestic war, this spirit of the Communists was everywhere. No one can deny the sincerity of that group of Communists who wanted to save China. At that time, due to the development of various technologies, the role of mere manpower on the battlefield had been greatly suppressed. If such an army could be replicated in ancient times, where reliance on manpower was extremely strong, even if a part of this method was replicated, even Genghis Khan's army, which was equally fanatical and burned the flames of war all the way to Europe, would probably be nothing in front of such a team.

No need for higher technology, no gunpowder tanks or rifles, even if just using knives, this team could level the Wu Dynasty and level the Liao Kingdom. Of course, the emergence of that spirit in later generations involved many factors and constraints, and it was extremely difficult to replicate. But perhaps some of it could still be imitated and learned as much as possible.

Fang La had also talked about "all dharmas are equal, there is no high or low" in the army, but essentially, things he didn't believe in himself ultimately became just a slogan. The basis for people to believe is that they have to do it themselves, and there must be a serious set of programs. Placed in people's eyes, there must be a set of statements that are enough to make people believe, so that those people sincerely believe that they are working for a great cause, just like those scholars sincerely believe that they are "creating peace for all generations." Then everything has a beginning.

It would be troublesome to copy *Das Kapital* verbatim, but it's always necessary to refer to some. It is not impossible to piece together many sociological thoughts from later generations and weave a set of programs based on "fairness." Ning Yi himself did not believe it. It might already be too late to truly implement such things in Fang La's army, but if people saw it, they might not be able to deceive people. The important thing is that some people have already seen that the lack of faith and ambition has affected them, so he can do it more thoroughly, and people will be interested.

The intention should be higher, and the foundation should be more popular and more public. This Mid-Autumn Festival morning, he sat on the stone pier with the sun shining down, squinting his eyes and thinking.

Just treat it as multilevel marketing.

Then he thought that in order to protect Xiao Chan and himself, he planned to preach a religion, which was a bit too much. Of course, at this time, he was just thinking about it, and everything had to be adapted to the circumstances. If he stayed here long enough, he would have to find something to do anyway.

After thinking about it for a while, he was about to go back to the clinic to see Xiao Chan. When he got up, he realized that there was a man across the road who seemed to have been looking at him for a while, and was now walking towards him.

The man was dressed in black, looked like a Jianghu person, but did not carry a weapon. He was tall and thin, with a serious expression on his face, frowning at Ning Yi. Ning Yi also frowned, looking at A Chang's expression not far away, and probably understood that this person was indeed looking for him. He had been in contact with the Overlord Blade Camp's information for several days, and he also had some understanding of the appearance of some people in Fang La's army. At this time, comparing the names in his mind, the other party had already cupped his fists.

"May I ask if you are Ning Yi, Ning Liheng?" The words were quite polite.

"That's right, who are you..."

"My name is An Xifu."

Ning Yi sighed, someone coming to challenge him.

So he smiled and said, "Have you eaten yet?"

*******************

This chapter will probably not be very pleasing. First, some people will think I'm padding the word count, and second, inserting the history of "later generations" into an ancient time-travel novel may disrupt some feelings, and third... (a lot of words are omitted here) I won't say the third, it's hard to say. But I thought about it for a long time and I still want to write it, because it's something I've really thought about for a long time.

In short, no one can doubt the sincerity of that group of revolutionaries, and what they did was really a heaven-defying thing. Just looking at the military strength ratio between the two sides during the domestic war every year, I can see the climax... We won't mention the later things, of course, that's not the point. The point is that instead of always focusing on technological breakthroughs, I think it's better to focus on people themselves. Of course, technology still needs to be developed, we need to grasp both hands and develop a harmonious society.

Some people will not like to read it, but this is indeed a very important chapter for the future plot. I'm not padding the word count, over. (To be continued.) Vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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